Higher Density Living Should Be Key WA State Election Issue

PERTH RENTS CONTINUE TO SOAR

The urgent need to accelerate higher density living in near city areas to alleviate Perth’s haemorrhaging rental crisis should be a key issue in the forthcoming State elections.

Thousands of new rental homes could be created in near city areas over the next five years if the State Government fast tracked plans for higher density living and gave tax incentives to developers and investors. Rents are now increasing at more than five times the rate of inflation in Perth due a chronic shortage of rental properties.

We desperately need to boost the supply of rental properties in inner and near city areas where people work rather than encouraging more traditional housing developments in fringe suburbs.

This growing desire for people to live in apartments has been highlighted by national building housing trends which shows that around one in every four new homes are now apartments.

The ABS figures for the last financial year show that units and apartments accounted for 26.4% of all residential building approvals in Australia compared to 18.4% during 2009/2010, however, Perth continues to substantially lag behind major Eastern States cities in the volume of apartments being developed as our housing strategy in reality is still focused on developing new estates in the outer suburbs which creates a commute problem for many residents who don’t live where they work.

Despite all of the grand vision statements from Government about encouraging higher density living, large parts of the near and inner city areas of Perth have under-utilised housing capacity.

The forthcoming State election gives both major political parties the opportunity to engage in an informed and mature debate about one of the key issues facing Perth – our soaring rental prices. To that end, inner and near city living should be a central focus of this debate and the people of Perth should not accept anything less than detailed plans as well as specific policy time frames to substantially boost our near city housing stock over the next five years.

About James Limnios

James Limnios is a City of Perth Councillor with a passion for his city, family and work which is reflected in the strong relationships he builds with City of Perth ratepayers and his staff, while always making time for his family. He is known for his real estate expertise, with over 20 years’ experience in the industry as well as CEO of Limnios Property Group. You can follow James on Twitter and at his real estate blog.

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